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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29551065">Move Forward</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/knittenkitten/pseuds/kei'>kei (knittenkitten)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the steps forward [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Study, Community: writetomyheart, Gen, Not Beta Read, Post-Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:28:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>801</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29551065</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/knittenkitten/pseuds/kei</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Aqua encourages Kairi to move forward with more levity to her steps.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aqua &amp; Kairi (Kingdom Hearts)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the steps forward [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2238504</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>write to my heart</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Move Forward</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"It's a no-keyblade day!" Aqua declared, taking Kairi by surprise.</p><p>"Huh?" She put away Destiny's Embrace, which she had forgotten she had been holding loosely in her right hand. "Is this some kind of world order thing?"</p><p>Sora had told her about that at one point, but the impression Kairi had gotten was that it had absolutely nothing to do with the keyblade. In fact, wasn't the keyblade <em>essential</em> to the work they were doing? Her pondering must've surfaced on her face somehow—Aqua laughed, a bubbly sound unique to her Master that had come to lighten Kairi's sometimes heavy heart every time she heard it, and gently placed a hand on Kairi's shoulder.</p><p>"It's a 'no-keyblade day' thing, Kairi. You've been working yourself so hard, and I thought we'd take a little break."</p><p>Kairi remembered her failures—how she'd let herself be carried away by Axel, how she'd allowed Xehanort to whisk her away, and how she'd even <em>envisioned herself</em> being saved by Sora's empty husk—and made to collapse the reality of her failures into her palm. She had done nothing <em>but</em> take a break, wait for an opportunity, and hope it would deliver her the courage when she needed it most.</p><p>That had never worked, and she couldn't—<em>wouldn't</em>—rely on her friends anymore. Every day had to be a concrete step forward.</p><p>"But you never took a break when you were trying to save your friends. Sora never takes a break. Riku never takes a break." That <em>Kairi</em> never took a break, either, was a given in this context. Right? "Why should I?"</p><p>Aqua softly unclenched Kairi's fist to place a pink Wayfinder in it. Its cool, crystalline surface put a chill to Kairi's palm, which had begun to sweat under the pressure, and while she knew it was just the sunlight filtering through the material, she perceived a magical pink glow that encompassed her palm and stared at it in awe.</p><p>"Master Aqua, is this... for me? It's beautiful!"</p><p>Aqua nodded. "You see, Kairi, we never stopped fighting because we didn't have a <em>choice</em>. You, too, were made to fight—in dire circumstances, and with nowhere near the amount of help we had."</p><p>Once again, her Master had nearly read her mind, finding the smudge of self-doubt and washing it clean as if with a gentle water spell. Kairi knew she had been right to see Aqua as the ideal mentor she was, even though she couldn't remember having met her as a child.</p><p>Still, she clenched her resistance into the Wayfinder, testing the limits of the soft metal. "But... that doesn't change the fact that I <em>need</em> to get better!"</p><p>"Being hard on yourself won't fix any of that. Did Riku fix things by running away for a year? Did Sora fix things by running off on his own like that?"</p><p>Kairi shook her head, quite vigorously, her mind still damp with the pain of her best friends trying to run away from each other, and <em>Kairi</em>. She wished she could just shake <em>that</em> off as easily as the notion that those actions had been helpful. "...no. Definitely not."</p><p>Aqua smiled softly. "Then I think you can handle the break they could stand to take, Kairi."</p><p>Kairi couldn't help but smile back. "Yeah. But... why the Wayfinder?"</p><p>Aqua pulled out her own, a brilliant blue that sparkled in the sunlight. "I made these for Terra and Ven the day before I became a keyblade master; the day before everything started. So I wanted to give you this before you became a master, too. Nothing can ever drive us apart, and it's important to remember that during the best of times, so it can drive you during the worst."</p><p>Kairi found the paopu charm she'd made Sora in her pocket as Aqua was speaking with her other hand, and along with it her memories of giving it to Sora, and she fiddled with it with her fingers. "Thank you, Aqua."</p><p>"You're welcome, and, strangely, I feel like I should thank <em>you</em> for the idea." Aqua motioned at the paopu charm that was now sticking out of Kairi's pocket, which Kairi found herself stuffing back in there, sheepishly. Aqua should've known that was an island thing, not a Kairi thing, anyway. "Are you up for watching a meteor shower tonight?"</p><p>Kairi had never seen a <em>true</em> meteor shower in her life, and couldn't even remember the one that had changed her life forever. She often envied Riku and Sora when she'd heard them reminiscing about it.  Maybe that, too, wasn’t a real meteor shower, and she’d beat them to something for once.</p><p>"Of course."</p><p>Kairi had already stepped forward, and she was learning so much from Aqua as a result.</p><p>It was time to move forward, now.</p>
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